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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 16: Membranes and Vesicles II

BP 16.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 10:00–10:15, H 0112

Origin of red blood cell slippers in confined geometries — •Berin Becic and Stephan Gekle — Biofluid Simulation and Modeling, Department of Physics, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.

Red blood cells flowing in confined geometries such as blood vessels or microchannels exhibit fascinatingly rich dynamics. The two main types of motion are a stationary parachute-like state and the so-called slipper state. The main characteristic of the latter is the steady rotation of its membrane. As a result the current understanding of this state relates it closely to the similarly rotating tank-treading state in pure shear flows.

Based on a numerical approach we here show that this analogy is inaccurate and that instead the slipper mode is more closely related to the tumbling mode in shear flows. In channel flow, tumbling becomes partly suppressed due to flow curvature thus creating the slipper mode. We obtain this insight by using a boundary-integral simulation technique which allows us to systematically dissect the contribution of different flow components (linear and/or parabolic in different directions) as well as the influence of the confining walls.

Keywords: Red Blood Cells; Microchannels; Boundary Integral Method; Cell Mechanics; Microfluidics